“So, indeed, laughter is turning out to be not only a good medicine, but also a memory enhancer adding to our quality of life.”
More reasons to be cheerful, as if you needed them! Researchers at Loma Linda University in southern California have found a strong correlation between the stress hormone, cortisol, and memory and learning ability in older people
Cortisol is a steroid hormone produced in humans in response to stress and low blood glucose. Too much stress can take its toll on the body, mood, and mind. As we age it can contribute to a number of health problems, including high blood pressure, diabetes, and heart disease.
More recent research has also found that cortisol – which remains in the brain much longer than other stress hormones like adrenaline – damages certain neurons in the brain and can negatively affect memory and learning ability in the elderly.
So the question that the research team from Loma Linda University wanted to investigate was whether humour and laughter — a well-known source of stress relief — can help to reduce the neuron damage that cortisol can cause.
How did they do it?
There were three groups in the overall study. Two groups were ‘study groups’ – one a group of healthy elderly individuals; and a second group of elderly people with diabetes. The other one was the ‘control group’ of people the same age.
All three groups were asked to complete a memory assessment test designed to evaluate their learning ability, delayed recall ability, and visual recognition ability.
In all three groups, participants took the test twice.
However, in the two study groups, participants watched a 20 minute funny video in between doing the tests.
In the control group, they had no funny video. Rather, they were asked to just sit quietly for 20 minutes – no phones, no reading, sleeping or speaking with anyone – before doing the test the second time.
Study leader, Dr Gurinder Singh Bains and his colleagues tested the cortisol levels* of all three groups at five points, using saliva swabs: before the first test; after the first test; before the funny video or the period of sitting quietly; after the funny video or the period of sitting quietly; and finally, after the second test.
“The less stress you have the better your memory.”
The results?
The research team found a significant decrease in cortisol concentrations among both groups who watched the video, compared to the control group. The funny-video-watchers also showed greater improvement in all areas of the memory assessment test when compared to the controls.
The diabetic group had the most dramatic benefit in cortisol level changes while the healthy elderly group had the most significant changes (improvements) in memory test scores.
Based on their findings, the researchers concluded that ‘mirthful laughter’, spurred on by the humorous videos, decreased cortisol levels among the video watchers, which in turn improved their learning ability, recall ability, and visual recognition.
Dr Bains said learning ability and delayed recall becomes more challenging as we age but remained important to good quality of life. He said this research suggested that there were potential clinical and rehabilitative benefits of incorporating laughter into wellness programs for older people.
A co-author of the study and mentor of Dr Bains, Dr Lee Berk, is a well-known researcher in the field of therapeutic benefits of humour and laughter.
Dr Berk said it was relatively simple: “The less stress you have the better your memory.”
“Humour reduces detrimental stress hormones like cortisol that decrease memory hippocampal neurons, lowers your blood pressure, and increases blood flow and your mood state.
“The act of laughter – or simply enjoying some humour – increases the release of endorphins and dopamine in the brain, which provides a sense of pleasure and reward. These positive and beneficial neurochemical changes, in turn, make the immune system function better.
“There are even changes in brain wave activity towards what’s called the “gamma wave band frequency,” which also amp up memory and recall. So, indeed, laughter is turning out to be not only a good medicine, but also a memory enhancer adding to our quality of life.”
There you have it, then! If Sudokus and brain training games don’t push your buttons, find something that will give you a belly laugh and do it often!
Got any good suggestions for guaranteed belly laughs? Share them here!
* If you watched the ABC TV program, Redesign my Brain, you will have seen presenter, Todd Sampson’s cortisol levels being tested twice before attempting a tightrope walk: the first time before he did any brain training; and the second time, three months later, after all the brain training.
